“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to fulfill my dreams going that route. I just feel it was so much of a hassle and stress with the commissions and all that, I guess, that the right thing for me to do right now is to choose not to do it. And you know, definitely I’ve pursued a lot of other stuff to try to help my health and a lot of it’s helping. I feel great right now. I’m in really good shape, and that’s not something I’m worried about right now.”

As Mike Chiappetta points out, “Marquardt leaving the treatment behind is no small story, as there is much literature that suggests that TRT, once taken, is to be used for a lifetime.” Meaning that Nate’s decision to discontinue treatment could actually be detrimental to his health — assuming he ever needed it in the first place. (The way that MMA fighters have been casually jumping on and off hormone therapy certainly doesn’t improve TRT’s reputation as a cheap route to a competitive advantage.) Still, Marquardt says he’s in great shape without the extra testosterone boost, and will prove it as he drops to welterweight for the first time to battle Tyron Woodley for Strikeforce’s vacant welterweight title on July 14th in Portland, Oregon:

“I’m telling you guys, you haven’t seen me at 170. You liked me at 185, you’re gonna love me at 70, I’m just like an animal at this weight. You’re gonna love it.”

As for Woodley himself, Marquardt was less enthusiastic:

“We’re there to fight, not hold each other on the ground for half-an-hour…I don’t know what he can think of for a game plan for me. He’s not going to hold me down for five rounds. Is that his game plan, to take me down every round and just hold me down? [Ed. note: Yeah, pretty much.] That’s not going to happen. He’s definitely a boring fighter as far as other guys who let him hold them down.”

Between Marquardt’s 16-month layoff between his last fight and this one, his debut at a new weight class, and his previous experience with getting manhandled by a wrestler, he has a lot to be wary about facing the undefeated Woodley — especially at a crucial moment in his career when he needs to prove his relevance. Will he rise to the occasion?